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Friday, January 30, 2015

In a Washington Post opinion piece entitled "Five reasons Netanyahu should not address Congress," Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, explains why Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu should not address Congress at the invitation of House Speaker Boehner in March. First and foremost, Kagan declares that such an address would be "inappropriate."

"Inappropriate"? Why? Because, as explained by Kagan, "Allies don’t go big-footing around in each other’s politics." Kagan tells us how, in 1793, it was unacceptable for Citizen Genêt to seek support for revolutionary France in newly independent and neutral America. However, Kagan fails to mention that France and its citizens at the time were not facing threats of extermination. He also forgets to tells us of a letter from Texas Senator Ted Cruz and New York Representative Lee Zeldin sent on Thursday to Secretary of State John Kerry asking "for information regarding media reports that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to fund efforts to influence upcoming elections in Israel."

"In the case of Iran, Israel is uniquely threatened and, as a U.S. ally, it deserves a serious and appropriate hearing here. But it is a mistake for Congress to treat Israel as if it were fundamentally different from all other U.S. allies, some of whom also face dire threats."

"This barbaric, wolflike & infanticidal regime of #Israel which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated."

Yup, I suppose we can call that being "uniquely threatened," but it's not enough for Kagan to acquiesce to an address by the Israeli prime minister before Congress. After all, Netanyahu's mere words pose a "unique threat" to Obama's compulsive need to reach a deal with Iran over its nuclear weapons development program. You will recall Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes's assertion regarding such an agreement:

"This is probably the biggest thing President Obama will do in his second term on foreign policy. This is healthcare for us, just to put it in context."

"On the 70th anniversary of Auschwitz, mourning dead Jews is easy. And, forgive me, cheap. Want to truly honor the dead? Show solidarity with the living — Israel and its 6 million Jews. Make 'never again' more than an empty phrase. It took Nazi Germany seven years to kill 6 million Jews. It would take a nuclear Iran one day.

The Iranian bomb is a national security issue, an alliance issue and a regional Middle East issue. But it is also a uniquely Jewish issue because of Israel’s situation as the only state on earth overtly threatened with extinction, facing a potential nuclear power overtly threatening that extinction."

Me? I have never voted for Netanyahu, but I want him speaking before Congress and delineating the Iranian threat. I don't give a damn about Kagan's concern with what is appropriate or not. On the 70th anniversary of Auschwitz, my family and I are not prepared to walk passively into the gas chambers, and I apologize in advance to the Obama administration for any offense or discomfort that Netanyahu's factual exposition might cause.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

"President Obama touted Yemen just last September as a country where the United States 'successfully' was 'taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines.' Some administration officials feared Obama’s boast would haunt him, and sure enough, just over a week later, Shiite rebels from the Houthi movement seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

Last week, after four months of relentless pressure from the Houthis and the collapse of his military, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi resigned. Yemen became another shard of the splintering Middle East. The two most powerful forces, the Iran-backed Houthis and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), are both strongly anti-American."

Excuse me, David, but do you really think that Yemen is the only problem?

"More than three months of U.S. airstrikes in Syria have failed to prevent Islamic State militants from expanding their control in that country, according to U.S. and independent assessments, raising new concerns about President Barack Obama’s military strategy in the Middle East."

Further afield, in "friendly" Turkey, following the atrocities in France earlier this month, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu responded by declaring:

"We do not allow any insult to the prophet in this country."

How much more damage can Obama do in the Middle East? Plenty, if he is allowed to sign an agreement with Iran effectively giving them atomic weapons.

Monday, January 26, 2015

In a Washington Post opinion piece entitled "Netanyahu’s contempt for President Obama," Richard Cohen vehemently condemns Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for accepting US Speaker of the House Boehner's invitation to address Congress in March concerning the Iranian nuclear threat. Cohen writes:

"I stand with the president on this sanctions matter. Additional sanctions may drive the Iranians from the table. The Europeans may go with them. Let’s give the talks some more time."

But Cohen is mistaken: Additional sanctions will go into effect only if a deal is not reached. If the threat of additional sanctions in the event of failure to reach an agreement will drive the Iranians and Europeans from the negotiating table, neither the Iranians nor the Europeans are serious about a deal. (In fact, they're not.)

Cohen continues:

"I stand with Netanyahu in worrying about a president who has been awfully twitchy in his foreign policy. His faux threat to take Syria to task if it used chemical weapons in its civil war — the famous 'red line' — turned out to be a red-faced embarrassment. It has cost Obama much more than it cost Bashar al-Assad."

"Awfully twitchy"? Everyone, including Tehran, knows that there has never been any substance to Obama's threats, including his declaration regarding the Iranian nuclear program that "I will take no options off the table." Obama is hell-bent to sign an agreement with Iran, no matter what the consequences to Israel. As acknowledged by deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, such a deal in Obama's second term is the equivalent of health care for the president.

Cohen's conclusion:

"Netanyahu will come and speak to Congress and make his case — the one he has made time and time again — for additional sanctions on Iran. But if, in the end, action needs to be taken against Iran, Israel will need the support of all Americans. He has, with his impetuousness and contempt, made that harder to get."

But what if the year was 1938, and David Ben Gurion was invited to address Britain's parliament and state his opposition to the signing of the Munich Agreement by Neville Chamberlain with Nazi Germany. Sure, this might have offended Chamberlain and many members of his Conservative Party, but what does this matter in the face of an existential threat?

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren is a friend with whom I have served in the Israeli army and for whom I have the highest respect. As I write this blog entry, Mike's marvelous book, "Six Days of War," sits on a shelf opposite me. However, we disagree regarding the stance he has taken with respect to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to Congress on March 3.

"Oren, who is running for Knesset on the Kulanu list led by popular former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon, told Channel 2 Saturday that it was 'advisable to cancel the speech to Congress so as not to cause a rift with the American government. Much responsibility and reasoned political behavior are needed to guard interests in the White House."

Iran is an existential threat to Israel, as most recently evidenced by the presence of Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Mohammad Ali-Allah Dadi on the Syrian border with Israel. One week ago, an Israeli army helicopter killed General Dadi together with six top Hezbollah commanders, while they were mapping out future missile strikes against Israel to be launched from the Syrian Golan Heights.

Meanwhile, Obama is willy-nilly determined to reach an agreement with Iran concerning its nuclear weapons development program. As was noted last January by Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes regarding a nuclear deal with Iran:

"This is probably the biggest thing President Obama will do in his second term on foreign policy. This is healthcare for us, just to put it in context."

However, as stated by former White House advisor Dennis Ross, Eric Edelman and Ray Takeyh in a Politico article entitled "Time to Take It to Iran":

"During the course of the nuclear negotiations over the past year, Iran has been the beneficiary of a generous catalogue of concessions from the West. The 5-plus-1 has conceded to Iranian enrichment, agreed that Tehran need not scale back the number of its centrifuges significantly or dismantle any facilities and could have an industrial-size program after passage of a period of time. The Iranians have, during the course of the ten years of negotiations, grown accustomed to having their interlocutors return to the table with concessions meant to meet their mandates while offering only limited compromises of their own.

. . . .

Hence it is time to acknowledge that we need a revamped coercive strategy, one that threatens what the Islamic Republic values the most—its influence in the Middle East and its standing at home. And the pattern of concessions at the negotiating table must stop if there is to be an acceptable agreement. Iranian officials must come to understand that there will be no further concessions to reach an accord and that time is running out for negotiations."

Mike Oren claims that Israel needs to guard its interests in the White House. My belief, however, is that Obama is obsessively determined to reach agreement with Iran no matter what the consequences for Israel, and that Israel can expect nothing but hostility from Obama during the next two years.

As such, Netanyahu has an obligation to present Congress with evidence of the full extent of the Iranian threat, including ongoing development of nuclear weapons at Iran's Parchin facility, to which Tehran is denying access to International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

As was noted last January by Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes regarding a possible nuclear deal with Iran:

"This is probably the biggest thing President Obama will do in his second term on foreign policy. This is healthcare for us, just to put it in context."

Well, a deal with Iran continues to be high on Obama's agenda, and the president is obviously concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, at the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner, will be addressing a joint session of Congress concerning the Iranian nuclear threat. This is not sitting well with Obama, and White House press secretary Josh Earnest was quick to denounce Boehner's invitation as a "departure from protocol."

Now, "just by coincidence," Laurent Fabius, France’s minister of foreign affairs and international development, Philip Hammond, Britain’s foreign secretary, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s federal minister for foreign affairs, and Federica Mogherini, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, have written a guest Washington Post op-ed entitled "Why we extended negotiations with Iran on the nuclear issue." These four horsemen of the apocalypse distinguished diplomats write:

"Whereas previous inspections only occurred once every few weeks, the International Atomic Energy Agency is now able to conduct daily inspections of the Natanz and Fordow facilities, and the Arak reactor is now subject to monthly inspections."

Of course there is no mention by Fabius, Hammond, Steinmeier and Mogherini of Iran's refusal to permit IAEA access to the Parchin weapons development facility. Or stated otherwise, the IAEA is being given access to the sites where there is no nuclear weapons development, but access continues to be denied where such development is almost surely continuing unabated.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Say It Like It Is," Thomas Friedman remarkably notes the failure of the Obama administration to acknowledge the link between radical Islam and recent atrocities that have captured headlines across the globe:

"When you don’t call things by their real name, you always get in trouble. And this administration, so fearful of being accused of Islamophobia, is refusing to make any link to radical Islam from the recent explosions of violence against civilians (most of them Muslims) by Boko Haram in Nigeria, by the Taliban in Pakistan, by Al Qaeda in Paris and by jihadists in Yemen and Iraq. We’ve entered the theater of the absurd."

Friedman, however, is also careful in ascribing the blame:

"I am all for restraint on the issue, and would never hold every Muslim accountable for the acts of a few. But it is not good for us or the Muslim world to pretend that this spreading jihadist violence isn’t coming out of their faith community. It is coming mostly, but not exclusively, from angry young men and preachers on the fringe of the Sunni Arab and Pakistani communities in the Middle East and Europe."

Radical Islam is supported only by a few rotten apples? Yeah, right! Recent polls have revealed significant support for ISIS among Muslims in France, the UK, and the West Bank and Gaza.

Sorry, Tom, but these statistics tell us that support for ISIS within Islam is anything but marginal. As you yourself observed in your prior Times op-ed, "a million-person march against the jihadists across the Arab-Muslim world, organized by Arabs and Muslims for Arabs and Muslims" would cause the world to feel that "the jihadist threat was finally being seriously confronted."

In an important New York Times op-ed entitled "Support Our Students" concerning President Obama's decision to make community college free, David Brooks writes:

"The problem is that getting students to enroll is neither hard nor important. The important task is to help students graduate. Community college drop out rates now hover somewhere between 66 percent and 80 percent.

Spending $60 billion over 10 years to make community college free will do little to reduce that."

So, is the creation of educational opportunities a "good thing," even in the face of evidentiary failure? Maybe.

Will the community college program expand employment opportunities for professors, guidance counselors, college administrators, etc.? Absolutely.

Might the program reduce America's workforce if it results in the full-time enrollment of students, thereby bringing unemployment down by a small notch? Perhaps.

Can the United States, whose national debt now exceeds $18 trillion, afford this program? I suppose if you're going bankrupt anyway, it doesn't make a difference.

"The Obama administration on Friday unveiled data showing that many Americans with health insurance bought under the Affordable Care Act could face substantial price increases next year — in some cases as much as 20 percent — unless they switch plans."

"However, a new study from the well-respected and non-partisan National Bureau of Economic Research (and published by Brookings Institution), overcomes the limitations of these prior studies by examining what happened to premiums in the entire non-group market. The bottom line? In 2014, premiums in the non-group market grew by 24.4% compared to what they would have been without Obamacare. Of equal importance, this careful state-by-state assessment showed that premiums rose in all but 6 states (including Washington DC)."

The news on health reform is more favorable than even its supporters expected? Yeah, right!

And with free community college studies on their way - Who is going to end up paying for this? - good government just gets better and better.

Friday, January 16, 2015

"A government [Israel's] that never misses an opportunity to lecture the Western world about the pitfalls of surrendering to terrorism is proposing exactly that — surrender — to the Jews of France."

Rosner, however, concludes:

"If the only way for Jews to live in France today is behind barracks and guards with guns, perhaps it makes more sense not just for the dead to go to Israel, but also for the living to move to a place where we are the guards, we are the army and we are the government."

So which is it? French Jews must not surrender to terror, or, it makes no sense for Jews to live with armed guards in France?

For me the answer is clear: Europe is dying. As Muammar Gaddafi once declared:

"We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe—without swords, without guns, without conquest—will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades."

Sadly, Gaddafi was correct, and ultimately there will be no place left for Europe's Jews.

"Antisemitic views have been shown to be rampant among British people according to the results of a new polls.

One in four Britons were shown to believe that Jews 'chase money more than other people', according to a poll by YouGov.

Meanwhile the new survey showed that 17 per cent of respondent believe that Jewish people think themselves better than others.

A similar proportion felt that Jewish people have too much power in the media.

A separate poll also revealed that more than half of all British Jews feel that antisemitism has begun to echo the widespread anti-Jewish hatred of the 1930s, according to the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA).

Over half of British Jews (58%) surveyed said they feared that Jews may have no long-term future in Europe, said the CAA."

Yes, the writing is on the wall. Wait for better times, as did many German Jews in the 1930s? Good luck.

[Rosner additionally states in his op-ed:

"It is heartbreaking to witness a great Jewish community in a great country slowly losing its ability to thrive in a hostile and violent environment. And it is unfortunate that all the Jewish state has to offer them is escape."

All the Jewish state has to offer is escape? Rubbish! Notwithstanding all its sorrows and shortcomings, Israel is also a place where hi-tech dreams come true, where there is freedom of the press, where women can attain leadership positions in government and industry, and where the gay community can live proudly.

Is it really so bad for you in Israel, Shmuel? Maybe you should move to New York and write full-time for the Times - at least until it goes under and you must find your way back to Israel.]

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

"President Obama was criticized for failing to attend, or send a proper surrogate to, the giant antiterrorism march in Paris on Sunday. That criticism was right."

Friedman, who almost never criticizes Obama, is at least partially correct. Obama was too busy with his golf game and ESPN to attend. Also, Obama is preoccupied with a nuclear deal with Iran, which has been busy fomenting Shiite terror around the globe for many decades. As was noted by Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes regarding a possible nuclear deal with Iran:

"This is probably the biggest thing President Obama will do in his second term on foreign policy. This is healthcare for us, just to put it in context."

Deplore Sunni terrorism in Paris while seeking an accord with a vicious Shiite regime? Quite honestly, this doesn't make much sense.

Friedman continues:

"Saudi Arabia has redoubled its commitment to Wahhabi or Salafist Islam — the most puritanical, anti-pluralistic and anti-women version of that faith. This Saudi right turn — combined with oil revenues used to build Wahhabi-inspired mosques, websites and madrassas across the Muslim world — has tilted the entire Sunni community to the right. Look at a picture of female graduates of Cairo University in 1950. Few are wearing veils. Look at them today. Many are wearing veils. The open, soft, embracing Islam that defined Egypt for centuries — pray five times a day but wash it down with a beer at night — has been hardened by this Wahhabi wind from Arabia."

Only Egypt has "tilted" to the right? Have a look at what has happened in Turkey, ruled by Obama's friend Erdogan, since the AKP came to power in 2002.

Friedman further observes:

"The Saudi government opposes the jihadists. Unfortunately, though, it’s a very short step from Wahhabi Islam to the violent jihadism practiced by the Islamic State, or ISIS."

Horse manure! A "short step"? There is no "step" whatsoever. Funding for ISIS and the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front has been coming from "private donors" from both Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Volunteers for the armies of both of these organizations have been arriving from Saudi Arabia. If Saudi Arabia and Qatar wanted to block the funding and halt the movement of volunteer fighters, it could be accomplished in the blink of an eye.

Pressure from the isolationist Obama administration to halt this assistance to ISIS and al-Nusra has been non-existent.

So why should we have expected Obama to participate in the Paris rally? We shouldn't.

"Twice recently, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has acted boldly in support of his biggest political gamble, pursuit of a nuclear agreement with the major powers. In a speech last Sunday on Iran’s troubled economy, he argued that Iran will never enjoy sustained growth if it is isolated from the rest of the world. Three weeks earlier, he made clear that he would confront Iran’s hard-liners in his efforts to clinch a deal in which Iran would agree never to produce a nuclear weapon in return for the lifting of crippling international sanctions.

But Mr. Rouhani is not the only leader trying to keep a potential agreement from being savaged by domestic opponents. President Obama has a similar problem in Congress, where Senators Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, are expected to introduce legislation that could torpedo any deal by imposing new sanctions on Iran, including tighter controls on its battered oil industry."

"This barbaric, wolflike & infanticidal regime of #Israel which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated."

Or in other words, in the aftermath of the recent terrorist and anti-Semitic attacks in Paris, the editorial board of the Times sees fit to ask the US to find common ground with the Khamenei regime. Why? Because as was noted by Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes regarding a possible nuclear deal with Iran:

"This is probably the biggest thing President Obama will do in his second term on foreign policy. This is healthcare for us, just to put it in context."

Needless to say, there is no mention by the Times how "good cop" Rouhani has overseen a spike of executions in Iran. As reported in an October 14, 2014 Washington Times article entitled "Iran executions surge amid U.S. nuclear talks" by Guy Taylor:

"Iran’s abuse of human rights, including the hangings of hundreds of dubiously convicted citizens — in several cases minors — has soared over the past year, even as the Obama administration has yielded to Tehran’s demand for an extension in precarious international talks over the Islamic republic’s disputed nuclear program.

. . . .

During the 14 months since Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took office, Iranian authorities have carried out at least 936 executions, according to data compiled by the Connecticut-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center.

. . . .

An advance copy provided to The Washington Times notes the executions of at least 22 women since Mr. Rouhani took office and highlights more than a dozen cases of people younger than 18 accused of crimes and hanged. One case involved Iraj Nassiri, whom the report says was 'less than 15' when Iranian authorities accused him of 'premeditated murder.'"